I remember watching a film at Cal Poly in an Agriculture class that was made by Caterpillar Tractor. It was fascinating. They showed two bulldozers driving side by side with a chain that had links the size of railroad track between them in a U formation. They were clearing a field of scrub trees and anything else that stood in their way. Then they showed these huge excavators digging swimming pools in three scoops. They even had a big loader that could lift a car in its bucket. I have been mesmerized by the power and ingenuity of hydraulic powered heavy equipment ever since.
I attended a meeting in Philadelphia one day and have no idea what it was about even though I sat there for 2 hours. Why? Outside the window they were tearing down some slum of a building with heavy equipment. This crane had a wrecking ball on the end of a huge cable. They would slam the ball into the concrete building and a whole wall would collapse. Then a giant excavator would clamp on a portion of the roof and a fallen wall, tearing it from the foundation, and deposit it in a waiting truck. It was a very unfair contest. The wrecking ball versus a 70 slide power point presentation, I mean .
When my neighbor at the ranch tempted me with a used Caterpillar Backhoe, I jumped at the chance to enter the world of heavy equipment. He showed me the controls, warned me about tipping it over, gave me a lot of safety tips and I rode off into the backhoe sunset. My first duty was to clear out a patch of buck brush. I lowered the loader bucket and drove into the brush, ripping out several at once. After a few hours I had cleared an acre of brush. I then went up the hill and discovered that these things are really heavy as I sank the backhoe up to its axles in muddy ground. Being a neophyte in the world of heavy equipment I began to wonder what in the world could tow a backhoe out of the mud. The thing weighs more than my barn, so I jumped off, shut it down and walked over to my neighbors’ house to ask him. He reminded me that the hydraulic backhoe arm could essentially lift me out of my hole of shame, and deposit me a few feet to the right. Sure enough that worked like a charm and I slunk my way back to the barn to park old Yeller and wait for a few more rain free days before using the hoe again.
The world of hydraulic equipment has been adapted to do every conceivable job known to man. Need to shred metal file cabinets ? Slant drill a mile deep in the gulf of Mexico ? Our emergency crews use the jaws of life to hydraulically pry apart a smashed car to rescue the occupants.
I live in the technology world where we employ machines to simulate a lot of fast thinking, but not to do anything even remotely physical. Wander around a typical software company and you see folks that are designed for heavy thinking not heavy lifting. When you show up on a construction site, the people and machinery are designed to do a lot of difficult work quickly.
I am sure you’ve noticed the extension of highway 4 in Angels Camp. I bet there are a lot of us tech folks who would gladly spend our vacation days free of charge working on that project if we could run a Caltrans Bulldozer, Moto-grader or Loader. Not sure an army of tecchies would offset the cost of training and blunders but if Caltrans ever gets cash strapped….
A couple times a year we bring groups of Bay Area teens up to the ranch to ride ATV’s and dirt bikes and take a few digs with the backhoe. Of all the “events” the one kids brag about the most is running the backhoe. We have them dig a hole with the backhoe and fill it in with the front end loader. Everyone is shocked how easy it is to move a few tons of mother earth.
Sure, the folks that run heavy equipment for a living are scratching their heads, wondering what all the fuss is about. But to us non heavy equipment types the allure of these mega machines is inescapable, and will always capture our imaginations far more than what we face daily at work, i.e.… the next 1000 emails.
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